Stargazer
by Phoenix Sparrow
Summary: John has always loved space and everything about it. This is just a bit of young Tracy fluff cos I discovered the ISS app that lets you watch live feeds from the station as they orbit. I'm slightly obsessed. A chat with Darkflame's Pyre and we decided John is probably more obsessed than I am and this occurred.


"John, are you in bed yet?"

The young red-head glanced up at the sound of his mother's voice. "Um, yeah," he replied, because technically this was true. He was in bed. And he was even in his pyjamas already.

"There should be no 'um', John Tracy." Her voice sounded closer this time. "Either you're in bed and ready to settle down or you're not. It's almost time for lights out, young man."

John sighed and looked down at the tablet computer. He knew she would want him to turn it off, but he was watching the live feed from the World Space Station and it was so fascinating. The station was just heading towards a sunrise and he wanted to watch it. He loved seeing that thin blue crescent widen on its dark background until the red dot of the sun appeared in the middle. It astounded him how quickly that little red dot turned into a full starburst on the screen, brightening from red to yellow to white in barely a minute as the station orbited the earth.

"John?"

He jumped, dropping the computer into his lap. He hadn't expected her to appear at his door so quickly. "Sorry, Mom," he muttered, picking the tablet up again. "Just, the station is about to travel into a sunrise."

Lucille Tracy smiled softly, adjusting young Alan on her hip. "You're so much like your father, you know that?" she said, going in and sitting on the edge of his bed.

John couldn't help but smile back. He loved being compared to their brave astronaut father. He knew one day he'd be just like him and go into space. But for now the ten-year-old knew he wasn't quite big enough. Instead, he absorbed everything he possibly could about space. Every book, every website he was allowed to look at, every app. Especially this one. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd watched the recordings of their space walks and had taken so many screen shots of the sun cresting the earth as the station orbited. So many, in fact, that their father had had to download some to the main computer because he'd filled the memory and he couldn't bear to delete any.

Alan wriggled on Lucille's lap, reaching out for John. The older boy grinned and held his hands out, holding onto his little brother's hands as he toddled across the bed to him. Alan hadn't long learned to walk and loved putting it into practice but seemed particularly fond of John.

The blond boy sat himself down beside John, snuggling close to him and patted both hands on the tablet. He recognised the device, even if he couldn't understand it. He knew it would show him the pictures John loved looking at. The bright blue and white shape that sometimes had even brighter red and green flashes on it.

"My little space boys," Lucille said fondly. "Alright, you boys can have five minutes watching the space station while I go and check on the others. Five minutes, no more."

John grinned happily. "Thanks, Mom!" he said, unlocking the device and bringing up the display, elated that he hadn't missed the sunrise.

Lucille stopped at the door and watched the two of them together. Alan loved watching the station with John and often fell asleep on his lap. It had been John who'd worked out Alan fell asleep quicker and stayed settled if they left the footage running near his bed and they all vividly remembered Alan's distraught cries when the battery ran out on the tablet.

Alan's face was one big smile as he looked up at John then down at the screen, both hands patting it. "Dar! Dar!"

John smiled. "That's right, big star."

* * *

"John, you're not still on that tablet, are you?"

The thirteen-year-old looked up. How often had he heard that phrase over the years? Though his father was a little less lenient than their mother had been.

"I'm just…"

"Just?" Jeff asked, coming to the door.

"There's been some really cool shots of the aurora borealis, Dad," John said, looking at him.

"John, you have school in the morning, you need to get some sleep."

"Can't I just have five more minutes?"

"John, bed time."

John sighed, looking down at the device.

"I will disconnect the internet if you don't put that away," Jeff warned.

"But isn't Scott doing some homework?" John asked. "You'd be cutting him off, too."

Jeff raised an eyebrow. He knew John wasn't answering him back, he was just stating a fact. Had it been Gordon or Alan giving that same response, though… He shook his head. "For one thing, I can set up a parental control to turn off the internet access on your computer. For another thing, it's gone eleven. Scott finished his homework ages ago."

"It is?"

"It is. Now it's time to turn it off or I _will_ disconnect you. And I'll know if you hack back in."

John sighed again and turned the tablet off. "Alright, sorry, Dad," he muttered. He glanced up and saw Scott behind their father, stood in the doorway.

Jeff looked over his shoulder and saw him there so stepped aside, knowing Scott could often get John to agree to settle down for the night without the younger Tracy getting too agitated.

Scott went over and sat on the edge of John's bed as Jeff left the room. "You know you need to go to sleep, right?" he said.

John nodded. "I know, but I'm not tired, that's why I wanted to watch a bit longer."

"I know, John, but how about this. I'll download some of the footage and see if I can burn it onto a disc for you. Stuff like the space walks and some of the live streams."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it's a conditional offer," Scott added. "You gotta agree to go to sleep. Or at least lie down and try. All the time you're looking at that tablet you're not trying and the blue light off it will only keep you awake. You know that."

John bit his lip. He knew he slept far less than the others did which worried them. He nodded. "Alright, I'll try."

"Good man," Scott said, smiling. "But you can't use the discs in place of your live feed. I heard what Dad said about disconnecting you and believe me, he will. He did it to me."

"He did?"

"Mmm hmm. I was up til almost midnight chatting to one of my friends online. He gave me the three strikes rule. I hit third and he cut me off."

John nodded again. "Alright."

Scott smiled once more. "For what it's worth, I like watching that feed too. Kinda feels like we could almost be stepping into Dad's shoes when he did his spacewalks and stuff."

"Yeah," John agreed, settling down against his pillow. "That's how I feel. Like I'm actually there with him and Uncle Lee." He yawned slightly. "That'll be me one day, Scott. I wanna go to space, just like Dad did."

Jeff was listening from outside the door. He couldn't help but feel pride that he'd inspired his son to follow in his own footsteps.


End file.
